A CREWE man was convicted yesterday of causing the death of two young fathers whilst racing his car on South Cheshire's most dangerous road.

A jury at Chester Crown Court found Ioan Harding, 21, of Ford Lane, guilty of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving following a crash on the A530 Middlewich Road near Alvaston Hall last year.

Harding had been racing in the direction of Nantwich at about 1am on May 27 with his close friend Stephen Hicks, 21, father to a 22-month-old daughter. They were on their way to pick up a friend from Gregory's nightclub in Nantwich.

Akey witness in the seven-day trial,taxi driver Kenneth Saxon, said the pair had been racing parallel to each other for about three-quarters-of-a-mile before the smash, with Mr Hicks on the wrong side of the road as he tried to overtake.

Police evidence suggested Mr Hicks had been travelling at up to 90mph.

His car collided with that of Adam Chadwick, a 20-year-old chef from Old-field Road, Wheelock. Mr Chadwick had been driving perfectly properly before the crash happened.

Both he and Mr Hicks, of West Street, Crewe, were killed, with Mr Hicks's car splitting in two and the front end travelling 42 metres along the road.